Creamy 3 Cheese Broccoli

September 1, 2011

Sort of like a casserole. But since broccoli casseroles typically use flours or crackers to bind, I’d say this is more of a cheesy broccoli. Whatever you want to call it, it’s incredibly yummy. The 3 types of cheese as well as chicken stock infused cream result in a broccoli that explodes with flavour – this is not your garden variety broccoli with some melted cheese on top. A worthy sidekick to any meat dish.

Ingredients:

Broccoli – enough to fill a 9×13 baking dish

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 chicken bouillon cube*

1/4 tsp paprika (optional)

1 onion, finely chopped

2 Tbsp. thyme

2 cups Asiago cheese, grated

3 cups aged Cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Salt and pepper

*Chicken bouillon cubes often contain MSG. The best ones I’ve been able to find are Harvest Sun Organic Chicken Bouillon Cubes at Whole Foods. Ingredients: salt, yeast extract, potato starch, non-hydrogenated palm oil, chicken fat, dehydrated chicken, celery, onions, turmeric, parsley, lovage, natural rosemary flavour. Yeast extract can be a hidden source of MSG, so I don’t use these that often just in case. If you’d prefer, feel free to use a little less whipping cream and add some actual chicken broth instead.

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Prepare broccoli florets and place them in baking dish – use the stems/core for something else.

It kept in the fridge all week for me, since I do batch cooking. Well, by all week I really mean 5-6 days. I haven’t tried freezing it. But lots of people freeze vegetables. And I’ve frozen cheese in the past – it kind of loses its consistency/texture, but since this is a melt, I don’t think that would matter. Maybe freeze one portion and see how that turns out?

This looks really tasty! I’m going to give it a try. I found your blog about a week ago and bookmarked it. I really like it. I just went primal recently and it’s blogs like this, that keep me motivated. Thanks! :-)